1853 Born at Grooot-Zundert in the southern Netherlands, the son of a pastor.
1869 Becomes an apprentice at the French art dealers Goupil & Co. in The Hague.
1873 Van Gogh is transferred to the firm’s London branch. He falls in love with the daughter of his landlady but is rejected – a bitter personal blow.
1875 He is transferred to the head office of Goupil & Co. in Paris.
1876 Increasingly obsessed with religion, van Gogh is sacked. Travels to England and works in church schools in Ramsgate and West London.
1877 Returns to the Netherlands and decides to become a minister but fails to gain a place in the Theological Faculty at Amsterdam.
1878 Becomes a lay preacher in a mining area of Belgium.
1879 His contract is not renewed. Decides to become an artist.
1880 Studies drawing in Brussels. Becomes dependent on the financial support of his brother Theo who works for Goupil & Co. in Paris.
1881 Returns to live with his parents. In December he moves to The Hague where he lives with a prostitute Clasina (Sien) Hoornik.
1883 Leaves Sien and after a spell in the province of Drenthe returns to live with his parents in Nuenen where he paints peasant life.
1885 His father dies. In November Vincent moves to Antwerp.
1886 Joins his brother Theo in Paris. He introduces him to the Impressionist circle.
1888 In February he leaves Paris for Arles. Gauguin is persuaded to join him but soon announces that he wants to leave. Van Gogh cuts off a small part of his ear. He is committed to the Hôtel Dieu in Arles but discharges himself.
1889 After suffering further hallucinations and attacks of paranoia he is admitted to the asylum near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
1890 In May he leaves the asylum and travels to Auvers-sur-Oise. Vincent shoots himself on 27 July. Two days later he dies.
1885 The Potato Eaters, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum
1885 A Peasant Woman Digging, Birmingham, Barber Institute of Fine Arts
1885 Woman with Red Kerchief, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum
1886 Moulin de la Galette , Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum
1886–7 The Terrace of the Blute-fin Windmill, Montmartre, Chicago, Art Institute
1887 Interior of a Restaurant, Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum
1887 Portrait of Alexander Reid, Glasgow Art Gallery
1887 Road along the Seine, Asnières, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum
1887–8 L’Italienne, Paris, Musée d’Orsay
1887–8 Père Tanguy, Paris, Rodin Museum
1888 Vincent’s House in Arles , Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum
1888 Sunflowers , London, National Gallery
1888 The Sower, Amsterdam, van Gogh Museum
1888 The Lifting Bridge, Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum
1888 Ladies of Arles, St Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum
1888 Self Portrait with Straw Hat, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
1888 Farmhouse in Provence, Washington, National Gallery of Art
1888 The Harvest, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum
1888 The Zouave, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum
1888 La Mousmé, Washington, National Gallery of Art
1888 The Poet (Eugne Boch), Paris, Musée d’Orsay
1888 L’Arlésienne (Marie Ginoux), Paris, Musée d’Orsay
1888 Self Portrait as Bonze, Cambridge MA, Fogg Art Museum
1888 Van Gogh’s Chair, London, National Gallery
1888 Gauguin’s Chair, Amsterdam, van Gogh Museum
1888 The Night Café, New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery
1888 La Berceuse (Augustine Roulin), Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum
1888 Starry Night on the Rhône, Paris, Musée d’Orsay
1889 Portrait of Joseph Roulin, New York, MOMA
1889 Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear, London, Courtauld Institute Galleries
1889 Bedroom at Arles, Chicago, Art Institute
1889 The Starry Night, New York, MOMA
1889 Self Portrait, Paris, Musée d’Orsay
1889 Irises, Los Angeles, J Paul Getty Museum
1889 Olive Trees, New York, MOMA
1890 Church at Auvers , Paris, Musée d’Orsay
1890 Portrait of Dr Gachet, Paris, Musée d’Orsay
1890 Irises, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
1890 The Plain at Auvers, Vienna, Belvedere
1890 Crows over Wheat Field, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum